The Real Thing
by Haruka Kamiya
Summary: Kobayashi finally processes everything that has happened since meeting Tohru's father. And she comes to an important realization.


D/C: I live in America and I am what I own, which is nothing.

* * *

 _I wonder... when..._

Kobayashi was immediately snapped from her dissociative state when her phone went off—a little too loudly, she noted. It was just a series of e-mail alerts, but she still glared at her phone, wishing she hadn't been interrupted. She let out an exasperated sigh and leaned against the back of the sofa.

"Kobayashi-san?" Tohru inquired from the kitchen area as she prepared a salad. "Is everything alright?"

"Huh?" Kobayashi glanced in Tohru's direction. "Oh. Nothing. The phone just startled me, is all."

Tohru smiled and nodded, resuming her work. Kobayashi couldn't help but return the smile.

Now what exactly had been on her mind before her phone brought her back to reality?

It hadn't been very long since the incident with Tohru's father. Kobayashi was still reeling from it in the form of brief nightmares—flashbacks of being attacked. Tohru had always rushed to her aid when these dreams happened, and it was comforting.

 _I wonder when I was able to... notice all of that?_

"All of that" being Tohru's fine qualities as a girl and as a maid. Kobayashi was often too simple for her own good in regards to other people. It was difficult to read normal humans; even more so trying to read a dragon girl that apparently loved her to death. So naturally it had taken some time for her senses to come alive and realize a lot of things.

Such as that Kobayashi actually loved Tohru. A lot. And not in the platonic way.

It wasn't as if the love for another woman was foreign to Kobayashi. On the contrary, Tohru was just the first woman that actually wanted _her_. It was true that Kobayashi wasn't used to the experience of being wanted; there wasn't anyone she fancied that returned those feelings. So she had settled, resigned herself to the reality that she would never find a girlfriend because she wasn't any girl's type. She wasn't "wife material"-never mind that same-sex marriage was still illegal in Japan. She had to dash her own dreams.

It took a long time for it to click in her brain that she... well, she returned all the want Tohru expressed for her. It was true that when Tohru offered her everything, Kobayashi didn't need very much.

Because...

Tohru _was_ her everything.

Kobayashi didn't realize Tohru was everything to her until she had disappeared. It was an extremely rough time of things. She wasn't everything until she was nothing.

 _What exactly does Tohru see in me? Why does she love me?_

Kobayashi had to remind herself not to get tripped up over those particular questions, because the rumination was so stressful. It was best to just accept Tohru's love.

How was she going to ever properly articulate these feelings?

"I..." she whispered.

Could a human woman truly be with a female dragon? What exactly did Tohru's world have to say about that? Probably something along the lines of how humans and dragons aren't meant to mingle in such ways.

 _...what? Wait..._

Kobayashi furrowed her brows as she processed that last set of ponderings. Her fingers tensed and twitched as she tried not to create her hands into fists. She wished that Tohru could read her mind. That way it wouldn't be so difficult.

"Tohru..." she began, nervous.

"Yes?" Tohru responded and made her way onto the sofa at Kobayashi's side. "What is it, Kobayashi-san?"

Kobayashi gulped. "Do you want to be with me?"

Tohru blinked. "Of course!"

"...Forever?"

"Forever! You're it for me!" Tohru's eyes sparkled, full of love.

That did it.

Confronting Tohru's father gave Kobayashi just a little bit more assertion in the face of her anxiety and fears, so although she was anxious the entire few seconds it took, she leaned forward, placed her hands on Tohru's cheeks, and pulled her in for a short attempt at a soft kiss.

That was another thing. This was Kobayashi's first kiss in her twenty-five years of life. Twenty-five years old and her first kiss was with a damn dragon girl. At least she liked this dragon girl.

Tohru gasped and slowly wrapped her arms around Kobayashi's waist.

"Tohru..." Kobayashi breathed, reaching to pet her head as she thought quickly, searching for the most romantic things to say, but words failed her. "Tohru, I..."

Tohru returned the kiss. "You don't need to tell me, silly," she said as she giggled. "I know."

Kobayashi's face turned pink. "Really?" she chuckled, sheepish. "Nothing gets past you, huh?"

Tohru shook her head, with a smile full of joy and love. "Nope! I love you, Kobayashi-san!"

Kobayashi let out a bit of laughter because she didn't know how to respond and because she wanted to cry. "It's the... it's the same here," she finally gasped once she regained her bearings.

Seeing Tohru's eyes widen and shine, Kobayashi knew she did right, and she was never so glad in her life that she had met Tohru.

Hands trembling, Kobayashi pulled Tohru in for another kiss.


End file.
